Royal
Artillery Gunner's Sword
(c.1800 -1821)Peninsular War - War
of 1812 - Waterloo

When
the Royal Artillerymen were in garrison they possessed possessed two
orders of equipment: (1) a sword and belt while serving the gun, and (2)
crossbelts, bayonet and musket when not. Arming artillerymen with
muskets and bayonets was a common practice because they were expected to
serve sentry duty over ordnance stores and, in extreme circumstances,
act as infantry.
Carrying two sets of equipment into the field at
the opening of the Peninsular War proved impractical.
Illustrations show they were first sent without swords.
As their
job was primarily to fire artillery, a bayonet dangling at their side
when attacked by enemy cavalry provided little protection. As a result
after about 1811, gunners in battle are illustrated only wearing their
swords and their crossbelts and pouches were no longer being used.

Royal Artillery Gun Crew, 1813. Note all the
Gunners have only swords. No pouches.

At the opening of the War
of 1812 in North America, Royal Artillery in garrison gave up their
crossbelts for completely different reasons.
Because of equipment
shortages for the militia, all Royal Artillerymen were ordered on July
17, 1812 to "due duty with swords and are to deliver into the Ordnance
Store the Arms & Accoutrements in possession of the Corps."
Gunners must have been happy with this order because it meant they no
longer were expected to do sentry duty.
War Office records show
swords being immediately issued out to companies deficient in them.
It is presumed embodied and sedentary militia Artillery in Canada were
also issued with swords because by the end of 1812 there were requests
to London for more.

Paintings by George Jones
of the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 show dead Royal Artillerymen again
only with their swords and sword belt.
It appears the lessons
learned in the Peninsular War carried over into the deployment of the
Royal Artillery to Belgium.

Design

Past historians have often
erroneously referred to this Artillery sword as a copy of a French sabre
briquet. It is more accurate to say its design was inspired by the
leather-gripped French Imperial Guard infantry sword.
However the
hilt's languets, and length/width/straightness of the blade make the
Royal Artillery sword unique.
Interestingly enough, the hilt of
this sword was then copied by the United States and, with a curved blade
served as the trooper's sabre of the US Light Artillery in the War of
1812.

To reproduce this sword we
worked from a number of original examples including one from the Parks
Canada Collection:

Like all of our swords,
the hand forged blade is made of superior AISI 1055 high carbon steel.With our usual attention to detail, we
have marked the sword with the same makers mark as the origiinal we work
from.
The markings are DAWES BIRMM which is for the
sword maker William and Samuel Dawes of Birmingham.
See the
markings here.

Shipping times are after
your order has been processed.*$US prices for US residents only.
All other country clients are charged in Canadian Dollars.
*There are some remote territories of
countries that have an additional shipping fee (client notified if an
issue)
UPS (United Parcel Service) is a package courier: ups.com

Taxes,
Duties, Restrictions, etc...
For Canadian residents please add 5% GST or the rate of
provincial HST.
For United States residents there is no duty,
restrictions, brokerage fees, or taxes on your sword orders when shipped
through UPS.

All countries with shipping rates
listed above can import our swords into their
country (however there may be taxes and customs fees to pay).
Other
International clients please contact your customs department to determine
fees, taxes, and restrictions.
When inquiring to your government
please note that the sword you wish to import is a historic replica
and has no sharp edges. We have shipped our swords to over 18 different
countries.